Why I can’t wait to move out of my 8.4 star house into my own passive house

Don’t get me wrong. I really do like our current house and I definitely don’t want to sound snotty.

As some of you might know, we had renovated our brick veneer unit a few years ago and had turned the cold and draughty 0.8 star house into a comfortable 8.4 star home. But you see, the star rating is a theoretical rating, done on paper, assuming best practice and perfect installation of the insulation, without any gaps.

And although our house performs beautifully and is worlds apart from what it has been, it definitely does not perform as well as an 8.4 star home should. Reason being that we were not able to reach everywhere to install the insulation properly. And the insulation company we had used in 2011 was hopeless. Leaving gaps in the insulation everywhere. Even though we tried to fix up a lot of the gaps, I know that we didn’t get to all of them.

The thing is, our little house really does perform well. And even in winter our ducted heating only runs for short periods throughout the day to maintain a very comfortable 21 degrees. And when we turn off the heater at 7pm, when our kids go to bed, we usually still have a fairly comfortable 17 degrees in the morning, before turning on the heater.

But, it could be soooo much better.

That’s why I can’t wait to live in our own passive house.

The Passive House Standard a rigorous, but voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building’s ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little to no energy for space heating or cooling, even for the coldest and hottest parts of the world. Given you a guaranteed performance.

Meaning in our mild Melbourne climate the house will keep a really comfortable temperature all year around. And we will only need a small slit system to help us with the very little additional heating or cooling that we might need a few days a year.

The Passive house standard is one holistic construction certification standard that looks at the actual performance of a house, rather than just on paper, like the current energy rating scheme. So you will have a guaranteed well performing home.

But the thing I’m almost looking forward to the most will be the fresh air. I personally do suffer from asthma and hay fever and living with a ducted heating system that constantly blows air around is a bit challenging for me.

Therefore, I can’t wait to live in our own passive house, where I won’t have to deal with any of this anymore. All incoming air will be filtered. Only making room for beautiful healthy indoor air, no pollen, no dust mites and no mould.

If you want to know more about our own passive house journey, please check out my blog The 20/20 House on our website or contact me if you would like to learn more about the passive house standard in general.